


Two Guys in a Closet

by adeepeningdig



Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Ficlet, First Kiss, M/M, Shuri and Bucky are BFFs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 14:11:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13836426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeepeningdig/pseuds/adeepeningdig
Summary: Shuri locks Steve and Bucky in a closet. That's it. That's the fic





	Two Guys in a Closet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DevilPiglet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilPiglet/gifts).



> Just a little thing I wrote for DevilPiglet because it was all her idea.

When Bucky had told Steve that Shuri reminded him of Rebecca, Steve was certain he was being hyperbolic, mostly because he didn’t think Bucky remembered Rebecca as Rebecca all that well. He thought that Bucky just recalled that he had had a younger sister and now he had Shuri.

And yet, here Steve is, locked with Bucky in the maintenance closet at the back of Shuri’s lab, which is exactly the sort of thing Rebecca would have done.

“I didn’t know Wakanda even had closets,” he tells Bucky, who is still running his fingers up the sides of the doorposts, trying to find a way out. It’s a useless cause, but Bucky has always been stubborn.

He glances back at Steve, “Of course, they have closets in Wakanda, where else would they put their stuff?”

Steve shrugs, “I don’t know. Everything seems so neat and clean and efficient here. I just thought they would have found another storage system somehow.”

Bucky sighs and steps away from the locked door. “You got a thing against closets now?”

“No,” Steve says, “why would I have a thing against closets? I just-you know what? This is a ridiculous conversation.”

“This whole situation is ridiculous,” Bucky grumbles, but he comes to sit beside Steve on the surprisingly warm stone floor. He is dressed today like a Wakandan, his bare feet looking oddly delicate next Steve’s booted ones. His vibranium arm brushes against Steve’s shoulder. “Jesus Christ, but that kid is a menace.”

As if summoned Shuri’s voice comes booming from Bucky’s bracelet of Kimoyo beads. “Ready to come out of the closet, guys?”

“This isn’t funny!” Bucky yells.

“Yes it is,” Shuri yells back, cackling.

“I could be having a panic attack in here. I don’t like closed spaces.”

“Nice try, but I’m monitoring your vitals. You’re fine. Besides, you never have panic attacks when Captain Rogers is around.”

Bucky bangs his head against the wall.

“You know, your majesty,” Steve tries his luck. “I’m not so good with small spaces either. Maybe you should open the door.”

“I’m monitoring your vitals as well, Captain. Nice try, though.”

“I’m really sorry about this, Steve” Bucky says. “When I said she reminded me of Rebecca, I really meant it. She can be a real pain in the ass.”

“This is the type of thing your sister would do. Remember when she sewed Teddy’s shirt-sleeves shut right before his first date with Molly O’Flanagan?”

Bucky laughs, and Steve would do anything to keep him laughing forever. “He was so mad, and she was so proud of herself.”

“I’ll bet Shuri’s real proud of herself too, right now.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll bet.”

“She’s done good with you, though. That arm’s really something.”

Bucky glances down at where his arm gleams in the low light. His eyes are fond. “She’s the smartest kid I’ve ever met. Though apparently not smart enough not to get stupid ideas about things.”

“She’s a teen-ager. Apparently, teen-agers are like that.”

“Yeah, but-”

“But what?”

“She rags on me a lot about you. Guess I talk about you a lot.”

Steve can feel himself blushing. “You do?”

“Oh, yeah. You know how I run at the mouth.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Bucky-”

“I’m just trying to say, I’m sorry, Rogers, ok? I know you didn’t come all the way to Wakanda to get stuck in a closet.”

“I came to spend time with you, Buck,” Steve says, and Bucky dips his head. “And what do you know, here we are, spending time together.”

Bucky snorts.

“You ready? You ready?” Shuri’s gleeful voice interrupts them once again.

“I’m ready to kick your ass,” Bucky mutters under his breath.

“It’s gotta happen sometime, Bucky,” Shuri says. “Wakanda’s a safe space. You know you can do it.”

Bucky shifts and looks away. He’s uncomfortable, and now Steve’s mad.

“Your highness,” he says, raising his voice, “please-”

Bucky touches his forearm, shaking his head. “Don’t.” he whispers.

“What, she’s making you uncomfortable. That’s not ok.”

“I’m not uncomfortable. She’s just got the wrong ideas about some things. It’s fine. We’ll stay here another ten minutes or so, and she’ll let us out. She’s not cruel, just mischievous. It’s fine. Anyways, I thought you were enjoying spending time with me.”

“What did she get the wrong ideas about?” Steve’s heart is going a million miles a minute. He knows about coming out of the closet- oh, how he knows about it, and thinks about it- he is cognizant of Shuri’s over-used wordplay, but he didn’t dare hope she was being anything but silly. “Buck?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing, Steve. Just leave it.”

“You know,” Steve says eventually, “Natasha’s the first person who asked me that.”

“Asked you what?”

“If I was going to come out of the closet.”

“Excuse me, what?” Bucky says, eyes widening. “Steve, you aren’t-”

But Steve just talks right over him. “She kept on trying to set me up with all these girls, and I kept saying no.”

“Jesus, Steve,” Bucky says. “Nobody can win with you. First you don’t go with girls because you don’t think they’d like your body, now you got the body and you won’t go with girls because you think they’ll only like you for your body. When are you going to let yourself be happy?”

Steve shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t that,” he says, though it might have been like that during the war. Bucky has always known him best. “At first I just thought, it was just that- I wasn’t letting myself be happy. You were dead, Peggy was lost- so how could I be happy?”

“Stevie-” Bucky breathes.

“But then, then I realized that it wasn’t that. I could be happy. I just didn’t want to love anyone else but you.”

Bucky is silent and Steve is sweating through his shirt. “Buck? Say something please.”

“Even after you knew I was alive, when you knew what I did, you still?”

“Yes.” Steve says. “Yes. Even after. Even now.”

“Oh.”

“If you don’t feel the same, Buck. That’s fine. You always went with girls. I never really thought-”

“She’s not wrong,” Bucky bursts out. “Shuri’s not wrong about how I feel about you. I don’t talk about you a lot, but I talk to Shuri, so she’s not wrong.”

“She’s not?”

“No,” Bucky says, and he’s smiling.

“Oh,” Steve says, and he’s smiling.

“Look at us,” Bucky gestures with his hands, “a couple of mooks sitting here in a closet confessing our love.”

Steve laughs, and takes both of Bucky’s hands. “I’d ask to kiss you,” he says, “but I’m a little afraid Shuri is recording all this.”

Bucky leans in. “I told you,” he mutters, his lips just grazing Steve’s “she’s not cruel, she’s just mischievous.”

“Well then,” Steve says, and Bucky kisses him.

Steve- Steve hasn’t done a whole lot of kissing relative to most people who didn’t spend the large majority of their years frozen in a glacier, and he never dared to dream that he would one day kiss Bucky, and yet, here he is in a closet, kissing Bucky. It is by far the best kiss of his life. It is by far better than anything he could have imagined.

They stop to breathe. The air around them is still, silent.

“Shuri?” Bucky calls. Nothing. He reaches up and touches the door. It swings open. “Huh,” he says, getting to his feet.

Steve takes Bucky’s proffered hand and pulls himself up, bracing himself for Shuri’s inevitable outburst, but none comes. The lab is empty, dark. Bucky looks at him and grins, that old grin from Brooklyn and Steve can’t help but grin back.

“Let’s go,” Bucky says, and so they do.


End file.
